Employees at three overseas call centers sold hundreds of thousands of AT&T customer records, including names and Social Security numbers, to criminals who attempted to use the customer information to unlock stolen mobile phones, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said.

More than 279,000 U.S. customers of AT&T were affected by the data breaches, originating in call centers in Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines, the FCC said. AT&T has agreed to pay a US$25 million civil penalty and create a new data security program in a settlement with the agency, announced Wednesday.

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